For my non-Japanese friends, this is a depiction of a creature called a Tanuki in this ad. In a very famous children's song, "Shojoji no Tanuki Bayashi," the Tanuki beats its tummy, singing a song, having fun under the moon. The refrain of the song says "Ponpoko Pon no Pon." This is the sound made by Tanuki beating its tummy or "golden balls."

A curious and defining characteristic of Tanuki is its gigantic testes. According to some legends, the testicles / scrotum can be stretched to the size of eight tatami mats. Others point to the word Senjojiki (the space of 1,000 tatami mats) as an indication of the Tanuki's testes size. Called Kin-tama (Golden Balls) in Japanese, the testes are supposedly symbols of good luck rather than overt sexual symbols (the Japanese are more tolerant of low humor than most Western nations). In the movie Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko (see below), the Tanuki stretches out its scrotum as a parachute in a desperate suicide attack. In other Tanuki folklore, the Tanuki uses the testes as an impromptu drum, beating out the "ponpoko" sound (no pun intended).

In biological terms, the mythical Tanuki's large "golden balls" are a true depiction of the real-life Tanuki. According to evolutionary biologists, the Tanuki's scrotum is large because of fierce competition among Tanuki males for females. Phrased differently, Tanuki copulate frequently, and those Tanuki with larger testes size have a greater chance of getting their genes into the next generation. The same is true in the world of chimpanzees.

Statues of tanuki can be found outside many Japanese temples and restaurants, especially noodle shops. These statues often wear big, cone-shaped hats and carry bottles of sake in one hand, and a promissory note (a bill it will never pay) or empty purse in the other hand. Tanuki statues always have large bellies. Older depictions of the tanuki show them as having large testicles as well, although this feature is often omitted in contemporary sculpture.

Wow..Thank you mister Miyagi.
I had no idea raccoon dog was originally named Tanuki, as embarrassing as it is for a biologist. I'll go stand in the corner for awhile, maybe wear underwear with spikes on the inside to punish myself.